


Sweaters

by Glowcloudwasright



Category: Lumberjanes
Genre: April is a hopeless romantic, April likes Jo but isn't sure Jo likes her back, F/F, I want to make a longer fic, Insecurities, Jo is an adorable dork, Jo likes April but isn't sure April likes her back, Lots of cheesy stuff, Relationship Tropes, Secret Crush, idk everyone is here ok, im a sucker for a cliche, self doubt, slowburn, theyre both idiots basically
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:27:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23644609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glowcloudwasright/pseuds/Glowcloudwasright
Summary: Love is in the air at Miss Qiunzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet's Camp for Hardcore Lady Types and no one is safe. With so many love gestures going on around camp, Jo and April can't help but think what if? Not that they'll ever admit it though. Yet another supernatural happening could give them the final push they need.
Relationships: April & Jo (Lumberjanes), Jo/April (Lumberjanes), Mentioned Hes/Diane (Lumberjanes), Mentioned Mal/Molly (Lumberjanes)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 20





	1. Sleeveless hoodie

**Author's Note:**

> I'm planning on writing some more chapters for this story, this is a complete slow burn of two idiots in love so if you like that stuff, im your gal. Don't know how often i'll update but i'll try to do it often. Wish me luck!

“Huh, that’s weird.”

“What is, Rip?”

“Diane got a new vest.”

The Roanoakes were having breakfast at the Mess hall, indistinct chatter coming from their table about the alleged presence of a monster around the camp last night, nothing new honestly; when Ripley pointed out Diane, entering the Mess hall with some of the other Zodiacs.

“I think that’s Hes’s sleeveless hoodie. Dang, sounds like a tongue twister.” Mal was right, not only about the tongue twister, but about Diane sporting Hes’s signature sleeveless hoodie.

“Don’t you think Hes will be cold? What if Diane stole it?” There was mid concern in Ripley’s voice, but mostly confusion about the hoodie swap.

“Nah she’s good now, remember?” Oh yeah, Ripley sometimes forgot about that.

“Besides,” continued Mal. “I think they’re dating now? It’s not surprising if she borrows her sweaters.” Said Mal, shooting a playful look to Molly, who met it with a coy smile.

The breakfast chatter continued about whether they should investigate that same night, careful not to wake up Jen of course, and about the group’s camp activities for the day. Ripley was still a bit puzzled about the whole thing, was it a girlfriend thing stealing the others clothes? She didn’t really understand that, but any thought was long forgotten when she remembered that they had that hike with Jen later.

April, on the other hand, couldn’t shake the thought of the hoodie. Yeah, she didn’t like Diane very much but she had proven herself trustworthy with that Norse goddess incident; and besides, she was genuinely happy about her relationship with Hes, they both seemed happier, and if there’s something April loved, was love. Then again, she couldn’t help but think about the hoodie, rather, the gesture. She wondered what it would be like to sport her very own significant other’s hoodie around camp. What would it feel like to wear Jo’s hoodie, for instance.

_Woah. Hold that thought. That’s your friend. Your **best** friend._

“You okay there, Ape?” Asked Jo’s through a mouthful of cereal.

She must have drift off in though, looking at Jo’s direction, to her demise. Now she had to play it cool.

“Of course! We’re going monster hunting or what?!” Maybe it sounded a little more enthusiastic than April had intended, considering the monster hunting wasn’t until about 10 hours later.

Still, that was enough for a smile to creep up on Jo’s face. April found herself searching for that lovely smile more often than usual.

Ok, maybe she DID have a crush on her best friend. But it was a small crush and nothing else, it would go away eventually like her other crushes; besides, how could anyone NOT have a crush on Jo? She was so beautiful and smart and funny and always had something so interesting to talk about and she made April feel so safe and her brown eyes were so beautiful.

 _Ok April, cool it._ _It’s just a small crush._ She assured herself.

April thought maybe she could talk it through with Jo; she had been with her through every single one of her crushes, which were quite a few. She and Jo would talk about the crush in question over a few pints of ice cream, laugh, tease each other and a few weeks later said crush would have been long forgotten; that’s how it had always been.

But this was different. This wasn’t some girl or boy from her math class or some pop star whose music April had just found out about, this was Jo! Her best friend since diapers. 

_Maybe I could just wait until the feelings die out. Yeah, that should work. Right?_

April refused to give the subject anymore thought throughout the day. There were badges to earn and monsters to hunt, darn it.

Jo had noticed the hoodie thing too, but was honestly hoping no one would point it out. It was a surprise coming from Ripley, but at least it wasn’t April. It’s not like she wasn’t happy for Diane and Hes, even if Diane had tricked them several times and turned her to stone; Diane was improving and even Jo could admit that she and Hes made an adorable couple, but she wasn’t sure she could handle talking about relationship stuff while trying to get over a crush on her own best friend, at least not without a knot on her throat and turning red at the thought of April.

Instead, when the subject inevitably arrived, Jo chose to focus on her cereal. April seemed a little out of it too, which sparked Jo’s attention considering how much she loved romantic stuff. April was simply a hopeless romantic, and Jo loved that about her. She loved watching rom-coms with her until late at night, loved her ideas about soulmates and destiny, she even loved hearing all about April’s crushes, not that they didn’t make her a tiny bit jealous at times, but she could get over that, because April trusted her enough to tell her this things, this secrets she so eagerly loved sharing with her and that Jo loved to hear in return.

Maybe she had always had a crush on April and just didn’t realize it.

 _One heck of a time to realize your feelings, Jo._ She thought. And she was right, they were in the middle of summer camp, seeing each other 24/7 and fighting magical creatures almost every day. Talk about bad time for a crush.

Anyway, they had a whole day of activities that could help Jo to stop thinking about her crush, besides some serious researching/monster hunting planned for the night.

_This should be fine, right?_

Roanokes and Zodiacs alike were exiting the Mess Hall when a very tired Wren let out a groan.

“Agh if I see them making heart eyes at each other one more time I swear to Yayoi Kusama I’ll sleep at the moose stables for the rest of summer.”

“Weren’t you like their number one fan a few days ago?” Enquired Jo, who had been present with Wren when Hes talked about her crush on Diane, which made Wren’s eyes take the shape of hearts, if that was even anatomically possible. (Jo did the same thing honestly; the whole thing was just too fudging cute)

“Yeah but you don’t have to share a cabin with them. It’s mushy stuff 24/7.”

“I still think it’s cute.” Said Emily through the laughter of the group. Imagining Diane in all that mushy stuff was just hilarious.

“Aw, I would love to see Diane in that mushy state.” Said April from a side. “And I can’t believe I missed Hes confessing her undying love for Diane!”

“Hopeless romantic much, April?”

Asked Mackenzie, who, believe it or not, shared the sentiment with April.

 _You have no idea._ Thought Jo.

“You have no idea!” Said April out loud this time.

_Ha, jinx._

What Jo didn’t like about having crushes; not that there had been many of them, she didn’t have time for that stuff; was that she would overthink sometimes and her insecurities would get the best of her. And this crush on April was no exception. Since that night on the roof watching the meteorite shower Jo had wondered if she had it in her to satisfy April’s love for romantic gestures. Couples were huddled up on the roofs, holding hands and lost in the once in a life time event; proof of this were Mal and Molly, who always managed to be flawlessly adorable.

On the other hand, there were April and Jo, yes, they aren’t a couple, but still April always managed to have some part of her body on top of Jo’s. It was her way of telling her “I’m here”, a way of showing love. At the moment, April had her legs stretched on top of Jo's, until she got tired and decided to fold her legs, still on the same position, which placed her near Jo's shoulder, were her head inevitably ended after a few minutes. Any other person would have probably done something about it, moved closer or hold her hand, instead Jo couldn’t help but start talking about stars and space and stuff like that, that wasn’t romantic at all, even boring to some people. Jo wouldn’t admit it, but she worried that not only could she not give April the romantic stuff she liked, but that she could only bore her to sleep with science facts.

_So much for not thinking about that._


	2. Flannel Pt. 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is flannel a type of sweater? It is now.

After breakfast every Roanoke kept busy with the camp’s activities. Ripley took Bubbles to her ballroom dancing class, Molly was training for her level 2 Robyn Hood archery badge, Mal and Jo enjoyed earning their Riveter badge at the electromechanical workshop and April perfected her patisserie skills for the Absence makes the heart grow fondant badge.

April congratulated herself, not only because her merengue roses had improved drastically, but because she hadn’t thought about Jo that whole time. Or maybe because she only thought about her a little bit. They had started the pursue of this badge together after all, and April couldn’t help remember Jo’s frosting applying robot, which had later become a butter applying robot that found a home at the Mess hall. This all made April think about how crafty and smart Jo was, she made a robot in under an hour for crying out loud, and April didn’t even know what materials she could have possibly used for that.

Barney and Wren were sitting next to her. She wasn’t sure exactly why Barney was there, since they were the master baker at camp.

“I want to experiment with new flavors for my oatmeal cookies.”

“I just want to eat cake.” Was Wren’s excuse, although she made a beautiful red velvet cake with purple cream cheese frosting.

While decorating their various treats and chatting, April remembered that Jo was with Mal at that electromechanical workshop, trying to earn their Riveter badge by fixing up a V4 Chevy engine. Mal and Jo were the perfect team for that, Mal liked cars and engines (and April shared the sentiment, after her dad had taught her so much about it) and Jo, well, she was Jo. She loved dismantling things and putting them together again, even if she didn’t care that much about cars, she loved figuring how things work and improving them if possible.

_That doesn’t count as thinking about Jo, right? It’s just hoping my friends did alright in their class._

Until she darted to a memory of last summer, when both of them and her dad worked on that ’52 Chevy pickup her dad had salvaged. Of course Jo knew how engine cars worked in theory, but since her dads stick to electric cars, she was eager to put to practice what she knew and learn some more. Their afternoons were filled with laughter, bolts, screws and lemonade. Occasionally with cake, carrot cake to be specific, Jo’s favorite. Even if April insisted that “carrot cake was basically a salad”, she made sure to bake the sweet treat just for her if she had the time.

“I thought chocolate was your favorite, pumpkin.” Her dad had pointed out one day.

“Yes, but we are working on the Chevy today and carrot cake is Jo’s favorite.”

After the third or fourth cake, her dad stopped even questioning what flavor her daughter was preparing, noticing the huge smile on April’s face every time Jo enjoyed the cake on its various presentations. Jo enjoyed it every time.

April convinced herself that her choice of baking carrot cake for today’s workshop was purely because of a craving she had and not because she was planning on saving some for later to give to Jo.

“Oh you’re baking carrot cake, April? That’s Jo’s favorite, isn’t it? She told me the other day.” Barney pointed out when April came back from the oven with her slab of carrot cake fresh out of the oven. Barney and Jo had become good friends since they had joined the lumberjanes and April couldn’t have been happier about it.

“It is!” April said cheerily. Maybe too cheerily? “But I didn’t bake it because of Jo. I just have a craving, that’s all.”

Wren and Barney exchanged a look of mild concern.

“Oh, alright…” Said Barney, a little confused about her friend’s reaction.

April was a little embarrassed about her reaction, so she decided to go back to the task of making the cream cheese frosting for Jo’s cake.

_Her cake. For **her** cake._

Either way, Jo wasn’t thinking about April either. At all. She only remembered the past summer when April and her dad would invite Jo over to fix an old Chevy pickup that had become their Father-Daughter project. She couldn’t help but smile remembering poor uncle Alan dealing with April wanting to paint the Chevy sparkling pink and Jo trying to mess with the parts enough for the car to become basically a rocket. They both got away with it in the end, so April’s dad ended up with a sparkling pink Chevy pickup that could go from 0 to 200 km/h in under 8 seconds. He sported it proudly, and Jo was sure that as soon as April was old enough to drive she would not give the poor truck a rest.

After full afternoons of work they would relax with lemonade and, if available, any treat April would have baked beforehand. Jo’s favorite was April’s carrot cake, with a side of April insisting that it was “basically a salad”.

Jo was tightening the final screws on the project when Mal offered to give it a sweet paint job, just for looks.

“How about sparkly pink race lines?” Offered Jo, not really thinking about her suggestion until it left her mouth.

“Did Ripley just possessed you or you have a secret love for pink glitter I don’t know about?”

“Oh come on, it’d look cool. Fudge gender roles and stuff.”

_Of course it’s not because April loves pink._

Mal didn’t think much of the glittery suggestion, she liked it even. But it did spark her curiosity that Jo was lost in thought during half the workshop and that her only design suggestion had been April’s favorite color.

The engine roared through the camp’s garage, enough to earn them a round of applause from their camp mates and their Riveter badge from the counselor in charge.

“Nice paint details, girls.” Added the counselor once they went back to their seats.

Jo and Mal high fived each other, and now was the time to ask.

“So, was the paint suggestion just a coincidence or does it have anything to do with why you were so quiet while working today?”

Okay maybe Jo had been thinking about April and didn’t realize it. But was she that obvious?

“I don’t know what you are talking about, pink is a great color.”

Jo was dodging the subject, which only sparked Mal’s interest even more. But how could she not dodge the subject? She was trying to get over her crush, not talk about it with her friends like some gossip.

Still, Mal wanted to at least assure Jo that they could talk about anything if she needed it.

“Alright dude, suit yourself. I’m just saying, you can tell me if anything is bothering you or if you need to talk.”

Jo felt kind of bad; she didn’t want to hide things from her friends. Maybe it could even help her talking it through with Mal. They sometimes talked about her stuff with Molly anyway, so she owed it to her.

“Sorry, I know, I guess I do have too much stuff in my mind at the moment.”

“Want to talk about it?”

“Yes?”

Mal let out a laugh. “Are you asking me or telling me?”

“Okay, okay. Can I ask how did you know you liked Molly?”

Something clicked in Mal’s head.

“Ooh so it’s that kind of stuff.” Jo turned red. This was embarrassing and nothing she was used to, but still, Mal’s tone relaxed her a bit. “To answer your question, I guess I just knew? Not long after meeting her on the first day of camp I realized that I wanted to spend more time with her, to get to know her. The more I knew Molly the more I liked her, made me feel good, made me feel… safe. She has this calming effect in me, and she’s so funny and cool and smart…”

Now Mal was red. At least Jo wasn’t alone.

Mal cleared her throat when she felt like she was starting to ramble.

“But yeah, I don’t think there’s just one unique formula to know if you like someone. Everyone’s different so, you just know.”

_You just know._

Jo didn’t like that answer, even if deep down she knew it was true. How do you just know something? This was nothing like what she was used to. She liked logic, planned out stuff. She liked algorithms and maps and keys that led to some kind of answer. Jo believed every question had an answer, even if no one knew yet what it was, and this principle of just knowing went against all that.

“Mal, I love you, but that’s terrible advice.” Jo half joked.

“Well, love you too!” Mal pretended to be offended. “Besides, what do you want advice for? Or are this enquires out of more than curiosity?”

Mal was onto her. Now she might as well just talk about it.

“I…” Jo felt that lump on her throat she was getting used to by now. “-think I might like April. As more than a friend.”

Mal’s face lit up.

“Jo, seriously?! That’s so awesome; you two, Molly and I could go on double dates together! And we could tag Ripley along! Although that would just be like hanging out but-“

“Mal what the heck?! April and I aren’t dating. We might not even date at all!”

“Sorry, sorry, I got a little carried away. But why wouldn’t you two date? You even do couple-y stuff already.”

“Because April might not like me back? And what do you even mean by couple-y stuff?!”

If Jo wasn’t red before now she sure was.

“You guys are always holding hands and hugging and whispering things to each other. That’s couple-y stuff 101. Besides, why would April not like you?”

Jo darted her eyes onto their engine. They were touchy with each other, that much was true, but April was that loving with everyone.

Well that’s not true. Jo knew her relationship with April was special, April always had an extra tight hug or an extra sweet smile for her, but it was because they were best friends. At least that’s what Jo said to herself. She didn’t like Jo like that.

“I don’t know, because I’m me.”

Jo wasn’t sure what that meant.

“I think that’s more than enough for April.”

Mal’s tone was calm and sincere, but Jo didn’t want to get any ideas. She didn’t think she could take it if April rejected her. Of course she wouldn’t stop being her friend, but being April, she would reject her with all the sweetness of her heart and would make every effort for their relationship to not change at all, and after something like your best friend declaring she has feelings for you, well, that’s impossible.

Mal could see that Jo wasn’t very comfortable with the subject anymore. So they switched up to talking about anything else, like their next garage project. Jo appreciated the change of subject, but was left with a lot to think about.

“Wait, I just realized you aren’t wearing your flannel.” They might have been together for the past two hours, but Jo had just realized that Mal had switched her signature red flannel for a long sleeved red t-shirt.

It was a fairly cold evening at camp. Nothing too weird even for being the middle of summer, considering sudden cold weather and snow storms were nothing new at camp. Jo liked that kind of weather, even if she was cold most of the time, it was more comfortable for wearing her jacket and hoodie.

“Oh it had a hole on the sleeve from the last time something ended up chasing us. Molly offered to patch it up for me.”

Lunch time came around, so April went straight to the Mess hall after her class, being extra careful with her freshly decorated cake. She could see Molly and Ripley sitting on a bench near the Mess hall, Molly sewing what seemed to be Mal’s flannel.

“Hey guys! How’s your day going?”

She could see Molly had her new archery badge and that Ripley was still spinning poor Bubbles into a foxtrot step.

“Hey April. Pretty great, I got my badge.”

“And I learned foxtrot today!”

April let out a laugh seeing how much energy Ripley still had in her.

“That’s great! Congrats.” Ripley’s spinning came to a halt when she smelled what April was carrying in the little white box.

“You brought us cake? Yay!”

“I did, but you’ll have to wait until lunch to eat it, It’s for J- Everyone, it’s for everyone.”

Ripley was too distracted with the smell of the baked goods to have caught up on April’s little slip, but a blush had crept on her face that was more difficult to hide. Molly, however, saw everything and was logically puzzled by it.

“That’s really sweet April, thanks. But, are you okay?”

“Yeah, you’re red like a tomato.”

Great timing for Ripley to shift her attention to April.

“Of course, why wouldn’t I be? I’m just red ‘cause of… the heat.”

“Really? It’s pretty chilly today-“

“Because of the cold I meant.” Molly was cut short of her question.

“Okay then…”

Something was up with April.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one came out a little longer than expected so It will be 2 (or maybe more) parts, but I'm glad I'm figuring out this story. Also, can you tell I love cars? A '52 Chevy pickup is actually my dream car.


	3. Jacket Pt. 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back and the original idea of naming chapters as types of sweaters is starting to take a toll on me, but we'll make it work damn it. Still, I love this chapter's title and soon you'll find out why

The ‘janes were waiting for lunch time near the Mess Hall, chatting while Molly sewed a patch of fabric onto Mal’s flannel; a gesture April thought was really sweet. Ripley was still focused on the cake, drooling just thinking about eating it, even if she wanted to share it with her friends. Suddenly, a raft of cold wind swept through the camp, sending shivers to every camper in its way, most of them with summer clothes. The girls shuddered too at the unexpected change of temperature.

“What’s up with the weather today? It’s the middle of summer!” April complained, rolling down the sleeves of her jacket to protect from the cold wind.

Even Ripley put on her flannel that was usually tied to her waist.

“You don’t think it’s something supernatural, do you?” Asked Ripley, letting Bubbles go to his usual spot on Molly’s head for warmth.

“It usually is.” Said Molly, petting Bubbles.

“Could it have anything to do with the creature we saw around the cabin? Last night was unusually chilly too.” Enquired April.

Before the girls could answer, they saw Mal and Jo approaching them.

“Hey guys, did you feel that wind current?” Asked Jo, with her hands inside her jacket pockets.

“We were just talking about that, this can’t be a regular summer breeze.”

Mal was visibly shaking from the cold, tugging at her shirts sleeves to cover a little more.

“Mal you’re shaking!” Molly took the flannel she had been working on and placed it on her girlfriend’s shoulders. “Good thing I patched up your flannel already.”

“Thanks Molly, it looks awesome!”

“Girls!-“ Jen came rushing with other counselors and scouts going towards the Mess hall. “Rosie will give an announcement over lunch; let’s get inside before it gets any colder here.” 

Everyone got inside the Mess hall as instructed, with the wind starting to blow even stronger and colder. Ripley was clinging to Jen’s leg, nothing new actually; Mal and Molly were walking close to the other to keep warm and April held on tight to the box where her cake was placed, afraid it could be blown away from her hand. Jo noticed the small package and recognized the smell.

“Hey, you made carrot cake!” She said cheerfully once she saw what it contained. “Your carrot cake’s my favorite.”

April blushed a little at her friends realization.

“Yeah, I remembered! But I also had a craving for carrot cake so…”

“Even if it’s basically a salad?” Teased Jo.

“I’m trying to eat healthier.” Said April in return with a cocky smile. Jo could tell she was shivering a little, which was concerning since April was rarely ever cold.

“Hey, Ape, you want my jacket? You look like you’re-“

“Alright scouts, listen up!” Jo had been interrupted by Rosie, who was at the front of the Mess hall to refer to the scouts. “Due to the strange change of weather all outside activities will be postponed. This might not be a snow blizzard like last time but we aren’t risking it. Each cabin counselor will be given sweaters and blankets for scouts that might need them while we resolve the situation. After lunch you are all to stay here for some fun indoor activities. I might add that since last time’s incident, inside axe throwing is prohibited.”

Disappointed groans were heard from some scouts after the axe throwing prohibition, including Ripley, who wasn’t able to participate last time due to their little subterranean adventure.

“Sorry Jo, what were you saying?” Asked April once the announcements had resumed.

“I was asking if you wanted my ja-“

“Ripley! Put the axe down!” They were once again interrupted by Jen, who was chasing a very excited Ripley running around with an axe.

“But I didn’t get my turn last time!”

“Aw come on, Rip, it’s dangerous!” April joined Jen on the wild Ripley chase.

Jo was visibly disappointed about being interrupted twice, but Ripley with an axe really was a risk to every body’s safety. Instead, she focused on the cake neatly placed inside a white carton box. Was April thinking about her enough to prompt her to bake her favorite cake?

_Nah, she said she had a craving. That’s all._

“Molly you’re shaking.”

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard Mal. Molly really was shaking, which made sense since she was only wearing her green shirt and cargo shorts.

“It’s nothing; there must be a current filtrating somewhere.”

“Here, take my shirt. You are the one who saved it, after all.”

Mal took off the flannel that was previously covering her from the cold and helped Molly put it on, who wore it as a jacket to defend from the cold.

“Are you sure? You were shaking too.”

“Yeah, it’s not that cold now that we’re inside. Besides-“ Mal was blushing now. “You look cute with my flannel.” They were both blushing now.

Jo couldn’t help sneaking up behind Mal and letting out a little “awww” at the gesture, much to Mal’s annoyance. They really were the Camp Couple. Jo wondered if the exchange would have been similar if she had gotten the chance to give her jacket to April.

“Come on, Ripley. I want to throw axes too but there’s not even enough space to make it fun. We’ll do it next time.” April and Jen finally convinced Ripley to not start an axe throwing revolution inside the Mess hall, and were returning to the table, while Jen and other counselors took the tomahawks away. Ripley was visibly disappointed.

Once they sat back down to the table, Molly chimed in.

“So, we all agree that this must be another weird supernatural thing-y right?”

Everyone agreed.

“And that it most probably is that thing we saw last night?” Continued Jo.

Everyone agreed again.

“And do we have a plan?”

This time Ripley asked, and like clockwork everyone turned to Mal.

“Why me?!”

“Because you always have a plan.”

“…okay I do have a plan.”

First things first they had to figure out what that thing was, so they decided to lay traps around the cabin so they wouldn’t need to run around in that strange weather. Jen would appreciate that precaution, even if they weren’t sure yet if they would mention the plan to her. After lots of planning and speculation of what the thing could be, based on April’s trusty and glittery bestiary, the girls decided to relax until they were free to go to their cabins for the night. Luckily, the weather hadn’t gotten worse.

April hadn’t notice until later that Molly was wearing Mal’s flannel as a jacket to protect her from the cold. Molly was now sitting next to April, finishing her lunch and talking about catching up on her knitting from the last time they had to stick to “fun indoor activities”.

“You and Mal really are the cutest.” Said April at Molly after the realization, shooting her an adorable and teasing look. Molly turned red but still smiled; she was enjoying wearing Mal’s flannel after all. “Wearing your couple’s red hoodie is adorable.”

“Hoodie, Ap-?” Molly had been interrupted but the choice of words caught her attention.

“I’m done with lunch; can we have cake now, April?” Ripley shot April a huge smile with the biggest puppy eyes. She had been waiting all day for the cake, or at least what it felt like the whole day. It was actually about an hour.

April smiled and with her usual flair for drama took the cake out of the box and began to cut it for her friends. She made sure to give Ripley the first piece.

“It’s so gooood.” Was all Ripley muttered through her mouth full of cake.

“You have gotten great with that frosting technic April.” Pointed out Jo, admiring the cake. She knew April had a hard time with lowering her expectations for a one hour class from her Great British Bake off standards. Nonetheless, the cake looked amazing with frosting rosettes around it.

No one noticed the blush on April’s cheeks thinking of Jo picking on that little detail. Except for Molly and Ripley.

“Why are you so re-“ Ripley was interrupted by a light shove from Molly. Even if she didn’t know what was up with April, asking that question right now probably wasn’t the best idea.

“Hey, Ripley. Can you help me bring Jen her piece of cake?”

Immediately forgetting the interruption Ripley was up and ready to get Jen some cake.

“You should come, April; Jen loves your cakes. And when we do normal activities.” Added Molly.

“That’s a great idea!” Chimed in Mal. Not suspiciously at all. She just wanted a moment to talk to Jo.

The Camp Couple was onto something.

“You want any more proof that April likes you?” Said Mal, taking another bite at her piece of cake.

“Proof? What proof?” Asked Jo fairly confused.

“She baked your favorite cake, how is that not proof she likes you?”

“She said she had a craving.”

“Of the cake she always states is basically a salad?” 

“Hey, carrot cake is a great flavor. That doesn’t prove anything.”

Mal wasn’t eager to keep debating with Jo. Was she that oblivious when she was crushing on Molly?

Meanwhile, at the counselors’ table, Jen was thrilled with the cake and gesture from the girls. Maybe that would soften the scolding if they got caught chasing monsters again.

“Hey April, are you okay?” Ripley asked suddenly, remembering her friend had been kind of weird during the whole day.

Molly would take advantage of the change in subject too.

“Sure, Rip. Why are you asking?”

“You’ve been acting weird today and getting really red and stuff. “

“Yeah, of course I’m fine. I might be thinking too much about this supernatural stuff, that’s it.”

“You sure it’s just about the supernatural stuff?” Enquired Molly.

“Or is it your crush on Jo?” This time it was Ripley who asked, sincerely and a nonchalantly.

April stopped dead on her tracks, as well as Molly. April was red again, experiencing the biggest rush of blood to the head she had in her short life. What had just happened? Molly was just as confused as April.

“Ripley, what d-. Don’t y-. Why d-“ April couldn’t form coherent sentences, being too worried about the question. How did Ripley know? Who else knows? What had just happened?!

Molly was shaken from her surprise when she caught April’s reaction. Her suspicion was right after all?

“Wait, so you do have a crush on Jo?”

“To the pantry, Right now.” April commanded, as she was not about to have this conversation in the middle of the Mess hall.

“Wait, but-“ Ripley tried to argue but was quickly shoved to the back of the Mess hall along with Molly by a still very flustered April.

The cooks were too busy to advert the girls entering the floor door that connected the kitchen to the underground pantry.

“We are going to visit the Mothras again?!” Asked Ripley very excited and without a clue of what was going on.

“I don’t think so, Rip…” Molly clarified.

“Where does all this of a crush on Jo come from?!” April turned to ask the girls, a little distressed.

“What? I thought we all knew.” Stated Ripley. April’s eye twitched a little. Molly just wanted to see were this was all going. “You guys are always together and doing things for each other and you are always watching her with huge sparkling eyes and the other day that Jo was feeling bad you were all soft with her and made her feel better and the other night that you had a nightmare Jo helped you fall back asleep an-“

“Okay that’s enough.” April interrupted, even redder than before, if that was possible.

Molly just sat there, wondering how much exactly had she missed.

“I think Ripley was way more observing than I was, but I noticed it too.” April swore she was going to pass out. Was she that obvious? “I was actually going to ask you if everything was okay.”

April took a deep breath to calm down. At least it was her friends who noticed, but she was still embarrassed. All she wanted to do was get over her crush and move on with her life, no need to make anything weird.

“You know you can tell us anything if that helps.” Molly’s tone was calm and sincere.

_Well, might as well._

“Okay I… May have a little… crush on Jo.” Said April despite the lump in her throat, the red back to her face. She was getting used to it.

“Wait, so only I knew?” Asked Ripley, confused about the secrecy.

“I hope!” Answered April, covering her face with her hands.

“Hey April it’s okay.” Molly knew the sentiment, so she tried to make her feel better.

“Do you think Jo has noticed?”

“Not a chance.” Molly was sure of that. “But, do you want to tell her?”

“You should! You two would be so cute together!” Said Ripley overly excited. Molly only smiled.

“Sweet Barbra Streisand NO! We-“ April looked down. “We’ve been best friends since forever. I don’t want anything to change. I don’t want to mess things up just because I have a tiny crush… I don’t think I could handle losing Jo”

“Why would you lose her?”

“Because she might not feel the same way. If I tell her there’s no way to go back to how it was. To how it is now.”

Ripley and Molly exchanged a look of concern and sympathy for her friend and both reached out to hug her.

“I get it.” Said Molly. “And you don’t have to do anything right now but… Don’t you want to find out if she feels the same way? Besides, I’m sure you could never lose Jo.”

“Yeah, you guys are best friends. We all are. No matter what.”

April was very grateful for her friends. Maybe she needed to talk about it after all.

“Thank you, guys. But I don’t think I could tell her. I don’t even think she likes me back.”

“That doesn’t sound like our overly confident April.” Molly’s comment made April smile. “But still, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. And if you need to talk, we’re right here.”

“Yeah!” Seconded Ripley.

“Thanks, girls. I-“ A sudden roaring noise from deep into the caves of the pantry interrupted April, startling them. 

“What the heck was that?” Asked Molly, logically afraid of what might have caused it.

“It doesn’t sound like the bugs we saw last time.”

“We have to go investigate!” With that, Ripley started to run towards the sound, hoping to find out what it was.

“Ripley, wait!” April and Molly followed Ripley into the caves, afraid of losing her in the dark.


	4. Old pink sweater

“What’s taking them so long?” Asked Mal, after a few minutes had passed and their friends were nowhere to be found.

“I’m not sure but I don’t see them around.” Replied Jo, standing from the table to try and find her friends among the other campers.

“You don’t think they ran off on an adventure without us, do you?” Mal was starting to worry.

“Where to? We can’t leave the Mess Hall and they know better than to go out with that weather.”

“Last time we couldn’t go out either but April, Ripley and I still managed to ride prehistoric bugs.”

“Fair point.”

Jo thought maybe they had gotten back to the underground pantry, and hoped to be right, because her next thought was that whatever was causing the crazy change in weather may have gotten them somehow.

Molly and April caught up to Ripley before a fork inside the cavern, where the smaller girl was standing observing the cave walls.

“Ripley! You can’t just run off like that!” Said Molly, catching her breath from the chase.

“You know we got lost last time we were here, you have to be careful.” Seconded April, checking her surroundings for bugs, giant or otherwise.

“I’m sorry but check this out!” Molly and April got a look of the cave wall Ripley was examining.

It was covered in, ice?

“How is this even possible? It’s not that cold down here.” Enquired April, gently touching the glass-like ice in front of her.

“I think we were right about this weather being more than an aggressive summer breeze.”

Molly, Ripley and April decided to walk back to the Mess Hall, thinking that it was best to be all together if they were to encounter another monster that could potentially freeze them death. The walk back was rather quiet, interrupted only by the occasional comment by Ripley wondering what that thing could be or cart wheeling at the front of the path. Once the girl ran out of theories for that what the monster could be, she remembered why they were there in the first place.

“But wait, April are you telling Jo you like her or not? ‘Cause I forgot wh-“

“Of course not!” Interrupted April.

“I think she likes you too.” Continued Ripley, doing another cartwheel next to her friends.

Now April was red again, she lost count about how many times that had happened during the day.

“What makes you say that, Rip?” Molly was genuinely curious now about how many things Ripley knew.

“’Cause she tried to give April her jacket earlier when she saw April was cold. That’s a thing girlfriends do, right?” April tried to remember what Ripley was talking about but she couldn’t.

“What? When?”

“When we entered the Mess Hall, but Rosie interrupted you guys.”

Now April remembered; she hadn’t heard Jo because of all the noise inside the Mess hall, but still, that didn’t mean anything right? Jo always worried and cared about April, even if it was usually April who supplied the sweaters and jackets when they were cold. April couldn’t help beating herself up about not hearing Jo earlier. She had been wondering what it would feel like to receive a gesture like that from Jo for days now, and she had missed it.

 _It was probably for the best._ April concluded.

“Well, it doesn’t matter because Jo and I are not girlfriends.” April’s tone had changed now. Stern, a little sad even.

April barely said a word on the walk back, which made Molly worry a little.

“There’s the pantry!” Ripley announced, making a run for it.

Molly and April were walking a little behind, quiet, like they had been since the conversation about Jo’s jacket.

“Hey April.” Said Molly while the got to the small door. “Thanks for telling us. I hope you know you can talk to us if you need it.”

Despite everything, April did feel a little better once she talked about her feelings, but was still decided to put them aside until they faded.

“Thanks, Molly” April said back with a small smile.

“You’re back!” Mal chimed, looking up from her bracelet making at the table. “Where were you guys?” She asked hugging Molly.

Ripley went on to nearly tackle Jo to see what she was making at the table.

“You’re not gonna believe what we found!”

Molly and Ripley proceeded to explain all about the loud roaring and the ice they found on the cave walls, Ripley speculating about a possible ghost polar bear with ice powers. April kept rather quiet during the conversation, which was weird for her.

“Hey, Ape. Everything okay?” Jo’s voice softly asking her this made April shake out of her thoughts.

“Sure, why?”

“It’s just you’re really quiet. Was it the bugs again?” April squirmed a little at the reminder of the giant centipedes.

“Not this time, thankfully.” Both her and Jo smiled at the relieved sigh. “Everything’s okay. Really.”

“Well, I trust you.” Jo looked at April’s eyes with a smile so sincere that April couldn’t help but smile back and blush a little.

The afternoon went by fast and it was nighttime already, so the counselors were instructed to take the campers to their cabins without any detours. The breeze was certainly stronger and colder now, and a thick mist covered most of the camp, making it hard to see past a few feet in front of you.

The girls all went to bed and Jen made them promise not to run around in the strange weather. Technically, they weren’t going to, so everything was okay. On the walk back to the cabin they had laid out a few small traps, that would entangle any supernatural stuff that set foot, paw or otherwise in it.

It was now the middle of the night when a loud rustling outside her window woke Jo up. She tried to look outside, fighting to shake the sleep from her eyes, but the mist didn’t help and she certainly wasn’t all that aware of her surroundings. Still, Jo could see something moving around from where they had laid one of their traps, until she heard more rustling and a sudden loud rip, made by something that reflected the moonlight. Glass perhaps, thought Jo. But most importantly, the thing they had caught was loose.

“Oh no, you won’t.” She said as she leaped from her bunk.

Jo might have needed to think this through a little more, or at least alert the others, but if she had, they could lose track of the thing, so she followed her first instinct, grabbed her jacket from the side of the bed, a lantern and ran out to try and get a glimpse of the creature.

Mal had heard the loud thud when Jo stepped down from her bunk and turned around, barely awake, just in time to see the door of the cabin half open and swinging a little.

“What the junk?” Mumbled Mal.

She shook herself awake and woke up the rest of the cabin, until she noticed Jo’s bunk was empty. Jen murmured something about having told them not to go out with this mist, while everyone grabbed jackets and lanterns to try and look for Jo.

“Do not get separated!” Said Jen, while the girls ran out to look for Jo.

On the other hand, Jo’s wild goose chase must have had taken farther than she had anticipated, because she could smell the pine trees closer to her and didn’t feel the dirt path of camp below her feet anymore. Luckily, this thing wasn’t too hard to see in the mist, a light blue glow surrounding a small ball-like figure that moved around the mist like a lightning bug, but about the size of Jo’s hand. She thought that if this thing was trying to run away from her rather than hurt her, maybe it was harmless.

“There you are.” Jo murmured to herself when she saw the light blue sphere had stopped near a clearing.

Once Jo stepped closer she could see a little bit more of the shape of her fugitive creature, or rather, the absence of shape. The thing looked like a light bulb or a small fire, floating gloomily on the edge of the clearing, but once it noticed that Jo was there the light around it glowed ten times brighter and the water and dirt around it froze in a ring of ice, loudly and instantly, as if someone dropped a barrel of liquid nitrogen.

Jo stepped back in precaution, but the ice was moving towards her and fast. Turning back stumbling Jo tried to keep on her feet by grabbing the nearby branches, but accidentally dropped her flashlight. Now she was running in the dark of the woods, the cold wind behind her, catching up to her.

Jo nearly fell several times because of branches and rocks in her way that she could have maybe anticipate had she grabbed her flashlight a little tighter, but that wasn’t important anymore, she had to get back to camp. After a particularly bad stumble with a misplaced rock, Jo’s jacket got caught in a branch. Jo tugged and tugged at her sleeve, but it wasn’t letting go anytime soon, and the icy path was still following her.

“Junk this!” She exclaimed frustrated, taking off her jacket and continuing her run back to camp. Or towards what she thought was the camp. 

The weather was now nearing a hurricane and the temperatures were lower than ever. Soon, it might even start snowing again, but the rest of the Roanokes kept calling out for Jo to no demise.

“This is bad. We’re really far from camp and there’s no sign of Jo.” Exclaimed Mal, worried and afraid.

“It is. We are going to have to turn back.” Said Jen.

“And leave Jo out here all alone?!” Asked April, worried.

“We are not leaving Jo alone, April. But no one knows we’re out here, we’re no help to Jo if we get lost too.”

“Jen’s right April, we have to get Rosie.” Molly chimed in, trying to calm her friend down.

Ripley was moving around the edge of the trail with Bubbles, sniffing the air like she had caught a clue.

“Rip, you’re not bloodhounds, stay here.” Mal said, worried about another of her cabin mates running off in the dark.

“Guys! I found something!” Ripley yelled from a side of the trail they had been following. “It’s Jo’s jacket!” 

They found Jo’s jacket covered in dirt a little more into the woods.

“How did you do that?!”

“Easy, Jo smells like vanilla. April smells like lavender, Jen smells like coffee, Moll-“

“But why is that here? Jo wouldn’t leave it like that.” Said April, while Molly inspected the jacket closer.

“It looks like it got caught in a branch.” Molly turned to the others. “Maybe something was chasing her if she ditched her jacket like that.”

Everyone seemed even more worried.

“This is it. We’re getting Rosie. It’s too dangerous to go alone.”

“No!” Opposed April, “Jo’s out there in this crazy weather, all alone and with something probably chasing her. I’m going to find her!” With that the little redhead took off in the direction were they had found the jacket.

“April, wait!” Jen called after her, but let out a frustrated sigh when she realized April wasn’t coming back. “Molly and Mal please stay with her; we don’t need another missing scout.” The girls nodded in agreement. “You have your flashlights and compass. Ripley and I will go get Rosie.”

With that, both groups took off to their quests.

The wind was blowing harder and colder and Jo wished she hadn’t discarded her jacket back there because her pajamas were no match for this cold. At least that thing wasn’t following her anymore, but she was shivering and too far away from any hiking trail she knew, not to mention in the dark, since her flashlight was lost first.

“Way to go J-jo.” She said to herself, holding her torso to try and stop the shivering. “No flashlight, no jacket, no friends.” 

Because what was she thinking running out like that? She should’ve told her friends, at least tell April. Jo never felt lost when she was with April; and honestly, she probably had a spare jacket on Jo’s size with her.

“Jo!” Oh no, she was hearing April’s voice now, she officially lost it.

“Jo! Where are you?!” _Wait._ This wasn’t in her head; that was April’s voice calling out to her.

“April?!” Jo called back, trying to find her friend in the dense mist.

In the distance she saw a light, not light blue like the one by the clearing, but sort of yellow and moving slower, like a flashlight. Jo called for her friend again, trying to get close without crashing into any more woodland. Both voices called back and forth, until they finally collided among the mist.

“Jo!” April was relieved, and hugged her best friend as tight as she could. Not minding the bone crushing strength, Jo hugged back.

“I’m so happy to see you! Take this.” April handed her a sweater, because of course April had taken a sweater for Jo before going out in the cold.

As Jo put it on, relieving the cold that was starting to get to her bones, she noticed the material. She had worn this sweater before, during long movie marathons at April’s house when Jo would forget to bring her own sweater. She loved that sweater so much she barely paid attention to the bright pink color that could hurt her eyes if she stared at it for too long, because it felt so good to wear it. It felt like April.

Jo didn’t know April had brought it with her, even if she did over pack sometimes, she hadn’t seen this thing all summer.

“You brought the fluffy pink sweater with you.” Jo said, almost to herself, with a soft smile looking down at the familiar sweater.

“Yeah I did… You don’t usually run around without your hoodie but, just in case.” April said, smiling and looking at Jo’s eyes.

Jo was touched that April had thought about her borrowing, sometimes flat out taking April’s sweater when she got cold, enough to bring it with her to summer camp, since April rarely used it because it didn’t quite fit her smaller torso.

Now they were both silent, not minding the cold breeze anymore and with their eyes locked on each other.

“April! Jo!” They were interrupted by the cries of Mal and Molly looking for them.

“Oh shoot, I kind of ditched the girls back at the trail. They must be worried.” April remembered her outburst from before running off to the woods.

“Why did you do that?!” Jo asked.

“You did it first!”

“Okay, true.”

The girls caught up with Mal and Molly, who made sure to express their worry about the ridiculous tendency they both had to ditching them to run around the dark forest.

“I'm really sorry I didn't tell you guys anything, but I saw the thing that's messing up with the weather. Or at least I think I did?"

Jo started explaining the girls about that weird blue light and the ice trail that was allegedly chasing her while making their way back to camp, but not until Jo showed them that weird ice trail.

"It looks like what Ripley found on the pantry caves." Said Molly, inspecting the icy dirt path.

Although the weather was starting to calm down, the group decided to get back to camp before that could change and before Jen had a heart attack.

Back at camp, Jo and April received a huge hug from Ripley and Jen, who then proceeded to scold them for running out in the middle of the night all alone, putting them both on cabin cleaning duty for the rest of the week.

"Hey, no more running around the woods okay?" Jen said finally "and if you MUST… call us all first. No Lumberjane adventures alone." she said this last part with a sweet smile and sent the girls to bed.

The girls returned the smile.

"Hey Ape, I’m sorry." Jo said you, tugging lightly at the sweater's sleeve.

"Don’t be. It's okay." Said April, sitting at the edge of her mattress.

"No, it's not. You got in trouble because of me and I made you all worry so much."

"Well, you always get in trouble because of me, so I guess we're even." April said, shooting Jo a small wink, to show her they really were okay.

Jo laughed and went on to climb the stairs to her own bed. Getting to their bunk, Jo realized she was still wearing April's sweater.

"Oh sorry, I'll give you back your sweater." April stopped her before she could take it off.

"It’s okay, Jo. It's still pretty chilly, you'll need it." April said, before a yawn left her mouth. Jo simply smiled and resumed her climbing.

"Besides, you look cute in it.” Murmured April, laying her head on her pillow.

Had it not been for the last step in the stairs to her bunk, Jo was sure she would’ve fallen off. Did April just call her cute? Or had she misheard her. Of course they complimented each other sometimes but this was really out of the blue. Maybe she was thinking too much about it? But how could she not when minutes ago they were staring lovingly into each other’s eyes?

Before Jo could say anything April was already fast asleep, lightly snoring from her bed. Jo limited herself to plop on her mattress and stare at the ceiling, a smile creeping on her face as well as a light blush to her cheeks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a fluffy as that pink sweater


	5. Jacket pt. 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a bit of a writer's block but I'm back with this story. The chapter is longer just to compensate (And cause I got excited)

Morning came around and the weather was still rather chilly, more so than the day before, but at least the wind had ceased a little. While getting ready for the day, that was probably going to be filled with fun indoor activities once again, April noticed Jo’s sad expression while putting on her red hoodie. Jo really liked her jacket; it had been a gift from her dads from past October and April was sure she hadn’t taken it off ever since.

“Hey, we could go look for your jacket later. If you’d like.” April offered from behind Jo.

She felt bad for not taking Jo’s jacket with her once she took off, but to be fair, she wasn’t really thinking at the moment.

“Do you think it’s still there? We couldn’t find it on the way back.”

“Yeah but it was really dark. Maybe we missed it.” April’s optimism made Jo smile and they planned on going back the trail later with the rest of the Roanokes.

“Nice pink sweater.” Mal said playfully and with a huge smile to Jo, while exiting the cabin to go get breakfast, making Jo blush profusely on her way out.

The announcements during breakfast came as expected, Rosie was off to who knows where to try and fix this weather issue and until further notice, all campers and counselors could resume activities inside the camp grounds. If the weather were to worsen, they would use the Mess Hall as refuge.

“Pssst, Jen, can we go back in the woods to find Jo’s jacket? We promise not to run off anymore.” April asked her counselor.

“The counselor just told you we have to stay inside camp grounds.”

“Pleaaaaaseeeee.” Ripley gave her huge puppy eyes to add to the pleading.

“You guys are going to go no matter what I say, aren’t you?” Jen already knew the answer, which was only reaffirmed with the Roanokes guilty grins.

Jen sighed “Fine. But you stay on the trail and I’ll go with you.”

They all cheered and Jen hoped they will actually end up staying on the trail after all.

“So, I know you already told us it was sort of like a blue light floating, but do you think it could be anything else?” Asked Molly suddenly, while they were hiking up the familiar trail deeper into the woods.

“I’m… not sure. It didn’t look like anything I’ve seen before. It was just… light. As if you grew a lighting bug to ten times its size, but… blue-ish?” Jo responded, the encounter had scared her a lot, and remembering it didn’t make her feel that good either.

“Ten times, ew…” April squirmed a little next to her imagining a bug that size, something straight out of her nightmares. But Jo had to admit, it helped her relax a little, even smile.

“A glowing mothra!” Chimed in Ripley.

“I don’t think it was another mothra, Rip.” Mal ruffled the younger girl’s hair a little. “Besides those things were way bigger.”

“Well, whatever it was its dangerous, so we have to be careful. I don’t think frostbite is the worst that thing can do.” Jen had a point.

Jo was once again uncomfortable at the topic, anxious even. Being at the same trail during the day was different, for instance she could now see from beyond the tip of her nose and wasn’t tripping on every single rock or branch. But the woods were still the woods, and she still remembered how her heart raced and her cold sweat drenched her forehead, she wasn’t sure if she was sweating from fear or exhaustion, not that she had time to stop and question that.

She couldn’t help but wonder what could’ve happened if she had been a little slower, a little clumsier, a little less lucky. What would have that thing do to her? The low temperature could have killed her in no time, or maybe it would have been like the time she got turned to stone. Jo wasn’t sure which option was worse. 

“Hey, you okay?” April’s voice shook Jo from her thoughts, thank Hypatia for that.

Jo closed her hands softly, she was sweating again. “Yeah, why do you ask?” She lied.

“You’ve been really quiet. And you’re shaking a little.” Jo hadn’t notice.

April put a reassuring hand on Jo’s back. “We can go back to camp if you’re not feeling well, Jo.”

“No-“Her answer came a little too quick and a little too loud. “I mean, no, it’s okay. We’re for my jacket after all.” Jo forced a small smile, but April was still worried.

“Roanokes!” A familiar voice broke everyone out of their search. It was Hes and the rest of the Zodiacs.

“What are you guys doing here?” Asked Mal.

“We could ask you the same thing.” Hes answered as the groups ushered to greet each other.

“No one is supposed to be out of camp grounds. And where is your counselor?” Jen marched towards the Zodiacs, even more anxious than before about the double amount of campers breaking the rules.

“We ask the same question every day.” Said Wren, almost to herself but Mackenzie nodded in agreement.

“We saw that ice thing last night too. We wanted to find out where it came from.”

“And of course we would find you, Roanokes, here.” Added Diane slightly annoyed.

“We’re actually looking for Jo’s jacket.” Molly said.

They quickly caught the Zodiacs up on Jo’s last night’s misadventure; all the while she barely interjected, limiting herself to tug at her hoodie sleeve.

“That sounds crazy scary. Are you okay Jo?” Barney asked her friend, who was caught by surprise by the question.

“I- Yeah, I’m okay. Thanks, Barn.” Barney gave her an understanding smile back. They knew Jo wasn’t too eager to talk about what happened.

Both cabins decided that getting too into the woods with that thing still around was too dangerous, so they limited to finish looking for Jo’s jacket to get back to camp and hopefully research a little more about what the strange freezing light could be.

“Hey! I think I found it!” Ripley called for the others.

Underneath an old damaged tree, possibly from last night’s wind, laid Jo’s jacket. Or what was left of it, since it was covered in dirt and slightly torn at the sleeve. Everyone rushed over to inspect it, with a variety of winces and disappointed faces at the state of the clothing piece. Only Jo dared to grab it and the disillusionment of finding her jacket in that state was apparent.

“It’s not so bad… we just need to clean it and patch it up a little.” Said Mal, inspecting it closer on Jo’s hands. Jo gulped, hoping her friend was right.

Back at camp Jo decided to ditch the daily activities to try and wash the woodland off her favorite jacket, running it under a faucet behind their cabin and rinsing it with soap for the third time now. At least most of the dirt had started to fall off.

“Hey, it looks better.” April said, suddenly appearing behind Jo and startling her a little.

As Jo was crouching next to the faucet she fell on a sitting position, dragging April along with her to the ground. The floor was wet from the running faucet, and even though Jo was already soaking from the rinsing and wringing, April was perfectly put together as usual. Up until now that she had grass and mud stains all over her back and arms.

The laughter that erupted from her made Jo realize that April couldn’t care less about that and prompted her to laugh along.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” Said April, scrapping away some of the mud in her hands.

“Don’t worry. I’ve been sort of… jumpy, all day.” Jo placed the jacket back on a bucket filled with water, not looking April in the eyes.

“I noticed… want to talk about it?”

Both girls sat down with their back supported by the wall of the cabin, not minding the mud and water anymore.

“I’m just kind of scared. We’ve had things chasing us through the woods at night before, but we’ve always been together. This time I… I was all alone.” The look on Jo’s face shifted so quickly it made April worry. “ I keep thinking about what would’ve happened if that thing had caught up with me.”

April put her hand on Jo’s hand, which was curled up in a tight fist.

“But it didn’t happen.”

“But what if it had? What if I had died frozen out there? Or- or what if it was just like when that time I got turned to stone? Or what if it had gotten to you guys first?”

“Jo, look at me.” April said sternly. “We don’t know what that thing is, but we’re going to figure it out. Together. So it doesn’t hurt anyone.” Jo seemed to relax at her friend’s words.

“We are being extra careful but we can’t stop to think about the “what ifs”. What matters is that you’re okay. Okay?”

Jo nodded. April had a way of grounding her and making her feel better almost instantly.

“Now let’s talk about my revenge.” April said, standing up and dusting herself off.

“Revenge?” Jo asked, mimicking her.

“Yes, about my dampened clothes.” April grabbed the bucket filled with clean water with a devilish smile.

“Don’t you dare!” Jo warned, unable to hide the huge smile on her face.

April threw the content of cold water at Jo, missing by just a few inches but managing to splash her a little and with a mocking “Ha!” from Jo, an epic water war ensued, empty threats and laughter erupting from both sides of the war as they tried to splash each other with what little water they could hold on their hands. After many failed and a few successful attacks, both girls fell to the now even more dampened ground, breathless. 

“Okay, okay…” Jo said, slightly out of breath. “Truce?”

“Truce.” April agreed, as both of them shook hands as a sign of peace.

None of them commented on the fact that their hands stayed together after lowering them to their side, intertwined on the ground next to them. April looked at the gesture disbelievingly, like any moment she could wake up at her bunk to realize this had all been a dream. Jo didn’t dare to look at their hands, afraid that acknowledging everything that was happening could make it go away too soon.

“Hey guys!” Barney’s familiar and cheery voice made them sit up faster than they ever had, retrieving their hands back, April to her jacket pocket and Jo to rub the back of her neck.

Both of them hoped the blush on their faces wasn’t too apparent.

“Am I… interrupting something?” Barney asked sheepishly, noticing the palpable awkwardness in the air.

“No!” Both girls answered in near perfect unison.

“Alright then,” Barney didn’t believe them, but wasn’t about to pressure the moment to be more uncomfortable. “Are you coming to the “Weather you like it or not” badge workshop, Jo?”

Jo stood up quickly, not worrying about dusting her clothes off anymore. She had ditched first and second activities, but had forgotten about the meteorology badge she and Barney were going to try to earn that day.

“Oh shoot, I forgot.” With that Jo disappeared into the cabin to change, she could use a break from the laundering.

As quickly as she entered, Jo left the cabin in a change of fresh dry clothes, her hair still dampened and slicked back as to not bother her too much. Barney and April had waited for her by the stairs of the cabin, still hung up on the theme of the weird blue light that was terrorizing camp.

“Wait, I have to hang my jacket or it’ll get worse.” Jo said, remembering suddenly.

“You guys go to your class. I’ll get your jacket.” April offered.

“Are you sure? I can do it.”

“Of course, you guys are already late and it’s no trouble” April waved both her friends off and offered the sweetest smile she had, often reserved only for Jo.

“Alright. Thanks, Ape.” Jo returned the smile, making April blush slightly.

Or maybe it was because of the way their eyes lingered just a second too long.

Barney limited themselves to look away at this, granting them their privacy and probably to avoid a cavity from the sweetness of it all.

Both of them were off in a half jog to their class and April got to the back of the cabin, examining the jacket pensive and serious. She was going to restore this jacket to its previous glory even if that was the last thing she did.

“So, should I ask?” Barney said to Jo, while they assembled the weather balloon the counselor instructed, a smug smile on their face.

Jo knew exactly what they meant, but chose to focus on the project at hand.

“No, you shall not.” Jo answered simply.

Barney was probably the only person besides Mal who knew about Jo’s crush. Not because Jo had told them, Barney simple was that observant and Jo wasn’t really denying it every time they suggested it. Jo trusted Barney, but wasn’t about to admit anything to anyone; that made everything too real, but considering the events of the past days maybe talking with Barney about it wouldn’t be so bad.

“What? You and April finally got together?” Asked Hes, from her own assembling station, genuine curiosity and good wishes in her voice. 

The sudden insinuation made Jo twist a wire a little too forcefully, making Barney wince from over her shoulder and inspect the slight damage. Jo turned her attention to Hes and Diane at the table over.

“No, we’re not together. Where does that even come from?” Asked Jo, nervous. Maybe Barney and Mal weren’t the only ones who knew.

Hes chuckled slightly. “From nowhere, we just thought. You guys look kinda cute together.”

“Disgustingly cute.” Added Diane. “I say that on the best way possible.”

Jo looked to her side as to avoid their gazes.

“And you were holding hands when I went to your cabin…” Barney added, low enough only for Jo to hear while they replaced the wire.

That was enough to make Jo blush profusely, turning back to her lab partner in annoyance.

“We were not.” She defended, not even sure why she felt the need to. 

“Awwww” Echoed from Hes and Diane’s table, maybe Barney had spoken a little too loudly.

“Don’t worry Jo, we won’t say a thing.” Said Hes, making a motion as if to zip her mouth shut.

“But if you two do end up together we get to make jokes as retaliation of your jokes.” Diane added, more focused on the project than any teenage drama around.

It was true that since the Zodiacs and the Roanokes had become closer over time they sometimes poked fun at Diane’s more sweet side, which only came out around Hes. But imagining the same jokes about her and April made Jo blush even harder.

 _It wouldn’t be so bad, though._ She thought, but quickly erased the words in her mind, instead focusing on their project for the evening.

The afternoon was starting to fade at camp and the sky was filled with shades of orange and purple, the passing clouds and, smoke?

Smoke. There was smoke coming out of the Roanoke cabin.

But to be fair, it wasn’t the first time.

Mal, Molly and Ripley rushed inside their cabin, trying to locate the source of the smoke. Molly entered first, coughing slightly. Turns out it wasn’t smoke, it was water vapor, which was stranger even, but less worrying.

“What in Joan of Arc’s name is going on here?” Asked Molly, managing to find April’s ginger hair between the clouds inside their cabin.

“Yeah, why is our cabin a sauna?” Asked Mal, losing one of her layers of clothes due to the heat.

Outside the weather was still fairly chilly for a summer evening, but inside the cabin felt like a tropical paradise, which they were clearly overdressed for.

“I like it!” Ripley commented, running around in between the clouds of vapor and soaking in the heat.

“Hey guys!” April greeted them, putting down what seemed to be an industrial iron. “Sorry about that, I might have over done it a bit.”

Once the clouds dissipated they could see a little of what April was doing: ironing a jacket that looked quite like Jo’s jacket, but in way better condition, even better than how it looked when they came to camp.

“Whoa, is that Jo’s jacket?” Asked Molly.

“Yep!” April answered proudly, wiping drips of sweat from her forehead.

“No way! It looks amazing.” Ripley got as close as possible to the jacket to inspect it, not even she dared to touch it and disrupt the mint condition of the clothing piece.

“What did you do to it?” Mal asked, smiling.

“Let’s see. Rinsing, drying, fabric dying; which by the way was super hard to get the color right, patching up, then dry cleaning…” April trailed off, wondering what else had she done in the last 2 hours. “And I think that’s it. I believe I just earned like three tailoring badges.” 

Everyone was so surprised with April’s efforts that no one question were the industrial iron even came from.

Then, like clockwork, the door of the cabin opened. The voices of Jo and Barney could be heard from behind it.

“Whoa, why is the cabin so warm?” Barney asked, suddenly hit with the wave of heat in the face.

Exchanging an I-know-something-you-don’t type of smile, Molly, Mal and Ripley stood aside for April to reveal her magnum opus of the day to Jo. She wailed a very proud “TA-DA!” as she swung the jacket and presented it to her owner. Jo simply stood there, with her eyes big like plates and a huge smile.

“April what did you do?!” She asked, grabbing the jacket softly by the sleeves, still not believing this was the same jacket she had rinsed three times that day.

“Just some light tailoring.” The ginger girl said with her characteristic arrogant smile, puffing up her chest at the well earned praise.

“It looks amazing.” Barney commented.

The smile, however, was quickly wiped when Jo tackled her on a tight hug, muttering very quick thank you’s and holding tight to the jacket and to April. Everyone in the cabin smiled at the sweet exchange. Mal, of course, would poke fun at Jo later.

The jacket looked amazing, probably even better than it did at the clothing rack of the store where Jo’s dad’s got it from; and to be honest, Jo had started to give up on the clothing piece, assimilating during the day that maybe she would have to say goodbye to her favorite jacket. Of course, that calamity hadn’t met April, the girl who worked miracles in mere hours, the girl who would go such lengths for her friends’ happiness, especially if that friend was Jo.

The noise of the dinner bell filled the air and the campers raced to the door of the cabin, eager to get some food.

April and Jo didn’t move, not like Jo would loosen her grip on April any time soon. They were still laughing, April lifted about a foot above ground level by Jo.

“Okay, okay, you can let go now.” It actually pained April to say those words, she could never get enough of Jo’s hugs, but she wanted dinner too.

“No way. I’m carrying you around forever as thank you.” Jo responded, not fully processing what she just said, but happiness was clouding her judgement.

“At least give me a piggy back to the Mess Hall, then.” Was April’s counter offer, much better than allowing Jo to let go of her.

Jo quickly put on her new-but-technically-not-new jacket on, feeling complete again and enjoying the extra warmth and they were off to the Mess hall, April holding tight to Jo’s back and laughing. Jo was rarely so physically affectionate, but of course, April was the exception to most of Jo’s rules.

It was officially dark out, but the first stars hadn’t come out yet, not that they could see most of them with the mist that filled camp during night time these days.

The ominous feeling of the mist was mostly ignored by both girls enjoying their laughter, until a loud roar from deep inside the woods made them turn their attention towards the wall of pines just by the edge of the camp.

“You guys heard that too?” Suddenly Hes and Diane jogged next to them, it was hard to tell were they had come from with all the mist, which they just now had noticed was getting thicker.

An unspoken conversation ensued between the four girls, who then hurried cautiously towards the woods in search of what could have made that sound.

Not long after they found it: a huge grizzly bear, and not a certain ex-camp director bear-woman, an actual grizzly bear, who seemed so scared by whatever was deeper into the woods that didn’t even noticed the three scared girls and the goddess with angry glowing purple eyes. Followed suit came all kinds of animals, seemingly running away from something too.

“That’s odd.” Commented April after the stampede of forest animals had ceased.

Everyone kept their eyes open, not daring to look away from the direction the animals had come from, but questioning whether they should too run. A bone freezing breeze sent shivers down the girls’ spines, but only Jo was familiar to this feeling.

“Everybody run!” Jo called, dragging April with her.

Not a second later the ground beneath the girls started to freeze, too quickly to be natural and looking as if it was meant to follow them, the same icy force that chased Jo around the woods just the night before.

Only April dared to look back, seeing a faint blueish light poking through the trees.

“What the heck is that!?” Asked Hes, as the four of them sprinted away from the icy path.

“That’s definitely magic.” Diane said.

“Stop!” April cried and everybody came to a halt.

“Why are we stopping?” Jo asked, looking behind her shoulder hoping the thing wasn’t following them anymore.

But it was, and now they had another very similar icy path coming at them from their left side.

“There’s another one!”

Practically cornered every girl looked around, trying to find their scape path.

“This way!” Diane cried first, sprinting deeper into the woods as the ground froze closer to them.

April was nearest to her, so as the ice came closer she could only take the decision of following Diane.

“Diane!” Hes called, but now a growing icy path separated both pairs of girls.

Jo did the only thing she could think of at the moment and dragged Hes by her sleeve towards an opposite direction the other girls had taken, the only direction that hadn’t froze over. Yet.

“Wait, we can’t get separated!” April said as she and Diane continued to run away.

“You want to explain that to the blue ice light of doom over there?” The sarcasm wasn’t appreciated by April, but Diane was right. They would try to find the others later.

On another part of the woods, Jo and Hes kept up running for their lives too.

“There’s more than one?!” Hes cried.

“Apparently.” Jo said, starting to lose her breath, she wasn’t nearly as athletic as Hes.

Finally the icy trail stopped moving towards them, halting by some trees and rocks and freezing them up to a meter high.

“It stopped.” Jo said, with her hands on her knees trying to catch her breath.

Hes moved closer to the ice, trying to make sense of what happened.

She hesitantly touched the surface of the icy ground, which looked like the surface of a lake in midwinter, thick enough you could probably skate on it. Nothing happened, thank goodness, but this wasn’t some magical illusion like Hes had theorized before, there was actually ice freezing the ground of the woods in the middle of summer. 

Both girls were so focused that they barely noticed the blue light had come back, only noticeable by its reflection on the icy path, floating once again behind the trees in front of them. Hes protectively took a step back, arms up and ready to fight whatever that thing was. Jo curled up her hands into fists, not quite as ready as Hes to fight, but to steady her nerves. If it came down to running again, she wouldn’t be caught off guard, still keeping in mind in what direction the camp was and willing to drag Hes with her if necessary.

“Jo, what is that thing?” Hes asked, probably just to break the silent tension and fear in the air.

“I have no idea.” Jo responded.

The light started to float closer towards them, less ominously, looking like some kind of estranged animal. It almost looked scared, if you could perceive any expression out of something without any discernable shape. It tried to hide between the branches and proceeded carefully towards them, lowering itself to eye level with both girls.

“I-“ Jo started to say, not believing what she was thinking. “I don’t think it wants to hurt us.” Her curled up fists relaxed.

Hes lowered her guard a little too, keeping her eyes on the blue light. Jo took a careful step in front of her, one hand hanging nonthreateningly in front of her, hoping the thing would understand her sign of peace.

“Hey.” Jo said, with the quietest voice she could manage. “It’s okay. We don’t want to hurt you.” 

“ _We_ hurting _it_ was never the problem.” Hes said from behind Jo, scared of that the other girl was trying to manage.

“Not helping, Hes.” Jo said, the sweet calm voice still in place.

The light seemed to understand the gestures, or so Jo thought, as it came closer, slowly floating in the air around Jo’s extended hand, almost as if it were inspecting it.

After a few seconds the light fluttered around happily and it reminded Jo of a butterfly, maybe it was friendly after all. She let out a laugh at the sight of the once scary light fluttering around her and Hes, surrounding them quickly and making their hair and clothes sway with a faint breeze.

The light then seemed to shift its attention to the icy path it had created, rushing against it and floating above it once it seemed to realize there was only ice and it’s reflection on the surface. It almost seemed sad now, but then again, there wasn’t much of a reason to think that.

“I think it’s looking for that other light.” Jo concluded.

Her words made the icy light flutter around her once more, seeming to agree.

“Is that it? You’re looking for your friend?” Hes asked, and the light fluttered around her this time.

“We can help you!” Jo said eagerly.

“We can?” Asked Hes, turning her attention to Jo.

“Yeah! The other light must be with April and Diane.” Jo said, suddenly realizing that they might have had a different encounter with that light, perhaps less friendly.

Hes realized this too, and in unspoken agreement they started to run back where they had come from, hoping to catch Diane and April on their way. Their new friend the blueish light followed suit, unfreezing the path on its way.

“Guys!” A familiar voice echoed through the woods. It was Barney.

Then the sound of the familiar voices of the remaining Zodiacs and Roanokes echoed, calling out the names of the four missing girls.

“Over here!” Hes called back.

They saw the yellow glean of flashlights turn towards their direction and the voices sounded nearer.

However, the light didn’t seem so happy to encounter yet another group of humans, and started flying around nervously.

“Hey, it’s okay. They’re friends too.” Jo tried to calm it, but it was useless.

The light glowed bigger, illuminating the trees and woodland around them. The branches around it seemed to freeze slightly, a thin coat of ice on top of the ground and branches and covering Jo’s sleeve, when she instinctively rose and arm up to her face to protect it. The light then disappeared in a mad dash back into the woods, as fast as it had appeared before.

“Hes! Jo!” The familiar voice of Molly shook them from the impression.

Ripley ran to hug Jo as tight as she could and the rest of the Zodiac cabin tackled Hes on a similar display of affection.

“What happened to not running off alone?!” Jen said, joining on the Roanoke group hug with Ripley, Mal and Molly.

Jo opened her mouth as to excuse herself, but Hes was quicker.

“It’s not her fault. Diane and I saw that light too and they came along to make sure nothing happened to us.” Jo shoot Hes a smile as thanks.

“Wait, where are Diane and April?” Asked Ripley, looking around for the missing campers.

“We thought they would be with you.” Said Mackenzie.

“There was another… thing, another light and we got separated running away from it.” Hes began to explain their estrange encounter.

“Then we have to go look for them! They could be in trouble.” Emily said, voicing everybody’s worries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nothing but fluff and dumbassery here.


	6. Red hoodie (almost)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry the updates on this fic have been so disperse, I had sort of a writers block with this one but oh well

“I think we finally lost it.” Diane said, hands on her knees trying to catch her breath from the previous run.

“Thank Wangari Maathai we did.” April said, slightly out of breath too, but not willing to relax for a bit.

If there were two of those things there could be more, Jo and Hes could have even separated too and that meant Jo could be in trouble, all alone in the dark woods again. April could only think of how shaken Jo was that morning only thinking about it, what happened if her worst fear had come true and the light had finally caught up to her? Well, she wasn’t about to sit there and do nothing about it.

“This is bad. We lost it but we have to find Jo and Hes. They could be in trouble.” April said, pacing around as if to conjure a plan.

“Well, duh. But we have to at least know where _we_ are first.” Diane answered, only making April more exasperated.

She was about to say something back, snap at her like they usually did, but April had other worries right now. Like actually finding out where they were and most importantly, where Jo was.

“So… do we know which way is camp?” Diane asked, looking around at the unfamiliar part of the woods.

April tried her hardest to find a landmark or to remember which direction they had run off to, but it seemed impossible. Without a concrete plan, the girls decided to walk back in the direction they had come from, hoping not to run into a fork or worse, the freezing light.

The lesser of two evils happened, and the girls stood in front of two paths, without a clue of which they had taken or which could lead them back to camp.

“This sucks.” Diane said and April agreed.

“If Jo were here she would know how to get back to camp.” April commented, starting to feel tired. What hour of the night was it even? They surely had missed dinner.

“Well, none of our girlfriends are here so we have to figure this out ourselves, Lumberdork.”

Diane eyed both paths with crossed arms, not paying attention to April, who flushed at the insinuation of their “girlfriends”.

“Jo is not my girlfriend, you snarky brat.” April said, sternly.

“Sure, whatever. The whole camp knows anyway.” Diane said dismissively.

Now April’s face was even redder, probably because of the new anger mixed with the previous embarrassment. Still, this wasn’t the moment to become a blushing mess or to fight with Diane; they had to find their way back to camp, hopefully before sunrise.

“Let’s go this way.” Diane pointed to the road on the right.

April simply stared in disbelief, not sure how she had drawn such a conclusion just eyeing both paths.

“Why there?” She asked.

“The breeze comes colder from this side; it must be the path we took running away from that thing.” Diane said, crossing her arms decidedly.

“That could only take us back to the weird light. We should take the left.” Now April crossed her arms.

Both girls’ personalities started to clash, as usually happened when facing each other, even after their reluctant truce weeks ago. They were tired, stressed and scared, which made the conversation quickly turn into a heated argument that would, figuratively and literally, take them nowhere.

“Agh okay! We’ll go this way.” April said finally, starting to walk towards the path suggested by Diane.

The walk was mostly silent, brows still furrowed in annoyance at each other’s company. After a few minutes April finally identified one of their landmarks carved in a rock by the path, which signaled the direction back to camp. The Roanokes got lost in the woods so often that Jo had thought of marking some spots near camp on less traveled paths so they always knew what to look for if there weren’t any trails or found themselves without a compass or map.

“We’re close! Jo carved this mark a while ago in case anyone got lost.” April said proudly. 

“Convenient.” Diane said, smiling,

Both girls picked up their pace, happy to be going back to hopefully their warm beds. But April started to feel bad about their earlier argument, now seeing her decision could have probably gotten them deeper into the woods.

“Hey, Diane.” She said, lowering her gaze. “I’m sorry about that argument. You were right on following this trail.” It wasn’t often that April apologized to Diane, so she was a little caught off guard. “You’re still a terrible survivalist and a brat, though.”

The added bit at the end made the whole apology make more sense.

“Better than you, redhead. Apology accepted” Diane said in exchange. “Hey uhm-“ Now Diane lowered her gaze, rubbing her neck. “I’m sorry about the whole “girlfriends” thing. That was wrong.” 

“That’s okay, the whole camp probably does know anyway.” April kept her gaze down with a saddened expression.

“It’s nobody’s business anyway.” Diane said, and for a moment it kind of made April feel better. “That mark thing was a good idea though. Jo’s smart.”

“Yes, she is.” April said, probably more cheery than she intended to.

A few second of silence fell between the two, which April broke.

“Is my crush that obvious?” She wasn’t even sure Diane would answer.

“It’s not. Don’t worry about it.” Diane’s tone was sincere, to which April wasn’t used to. She could have chosen to stop the conversation at that, but then she continued. “You guys just look cute together I guess. You’ve been friends long?”

Was Diane making conversation with her? _Well, this might as well happen._

“We have. Best friends since we were babies.” The thought made April smile.

“Gross. That’s great.” Diane seemed to be smiling too, but she was ready to deny it if asked. “Are you planning on confessing and junk?”

“Not really. I don’t even think she feels the same way.” April admitted, still not quite sure why she was talking about this with Diane of all people.

“Well, you never know. Hes was kind of a surprise for me.” Diane said, a light blush creeping on her face.

“For everyone except your cabin, I think.”

“Oh no, Mackenzie is still sour no one told her earlier.” Both girls shared a laugh, and that was probably the weirdest thing to happen that night.

The light conversation was cut short when they heard familiar voices calling for them.

“Diane! April!”

Both girls called back, trying to locate their friends between the trees. Finally the lost girls and the impromptu search party collided, Hes running to hug Diane tightly, followed by their own cabin who jumped at them into a group hug.

April couldn’t help but smile at the adorable sight of Hes and Diane reuniting, until her own cabin tackled her to the floor.

“We were so worried for you two!” Molly said.

April barely had any time to process that her five cabin mates were now squishing her into a tight hug, but it struck her the most how as the others muttered and cried questions about what happened or if she was okay, Jo simply hugged her tight, tighter than Ripley or Jen even, not saying a word. 

“Now please, let’s go back to camp.” Jen finally said, leading the group back to the Mess Hall to at least get some late dinner and recount their night.

“So, you’re telling us the weird light is friendly?” Asked Wren, still incredulous.

“Apparently.” Answered Hes, who wouldn’t believe if she hadn’t seen it herself.

The girls where all sitting inside the now empty Mess hall, having managed enough pity from the cooks to get some dinner scraps and hot cocoa to help them warm up.

“So,” Jo said, having come back to the table with another cup of cocoa. “Diane told me you were pretty worried about Hes and me.” Her smile was sweet, but April recognized the worry in her eyes.

“I was.” April answered, fidgeting with her mug. “I was worried you were alone in the woods again.”

Conversation at the table had lightened up, so everybody had shifted to small groups to make conversation, mostly about how scary and exciting the night had been or speculating about what that light could be after all.

Jo’s eyes drifted towards Hes and Diane at the other side of the table. All huddled closer together for warmth, Diane had given up her camp hoodie to Hes the second she saw her shivering from the cold, even if she insisted that she was okay through shudders. It was undeniable how cute they looked, and Jo thought that maybe this was her chance after all.

“Hey, April?”


End file.
